Midnight.
Midnight : the winds were quiet, and no sound1
Troubled the silence of the garden old :2
Clear showed its dark-red walls and mossy ground :3
The apple-trees’ trim leaves and fruit of gold4
Were as a fairy vision to behold,5
Motionless, tranquil : ’mid the peace profound6
Old Earth was wakeful, thinking ; all around7
The night was rich with sweet scents manifold.8
The harvest moon rode lonely in the steep.9
I drew my window-curtains, and the proud10
Still beams, into the chamber passing straight,11
Alighted, softly as descending sleep :12
Clad in such light, the vain sweet shadows crowd13
With noiseless pinions, through the ivory gate.14